


Meant To Break

by SatiricalDraperies



Series: Tolkien Gen Week 2020 [1]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, Swordfighting, Tolkien Gen Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25108015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatiricalDraperies/pseuds/SatiricalDraperies
Summary: Éomer attempts to teach Éowyn a tricky swordfighting move.
Relationships: Éomer Éadig & Éowyn
Series: Tolkien Gen Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819642
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14
Collections: Tolkien Gen Week 2020





	Meant To Break

**Author's Note:**

> Tolkien Gen Week 2020  
> day 1: family

“Hold it like this,” Éomer instructs. He repositions Éowyn’s hands on the wooden practice sword. “It feels better, right?”

She swings it hesitantly. It’s still just as heavy, but the weight works to propel the sword forward, adding momentum to her swing.

“Thanks,” she says. “I bet I can beat you now!”

“You don’t even know how to parry,” Éomer laughs.

“I don’t need to parry,” she counters. “Parrying won’t beat you.”

“No, but it can save your life.”

Éowyn rolls her eyes. “Show me that move you and Théodred were learning.”

“It’s hard,” Éomer says.

“And?”

Éomer shakes his head at his sister. She’s impatient and reckless. One of these days it will get her hurt, but until then, he’ll do his part to help her. Swordsmanship taught him how to trust in his strength of body and mind. Maybe it will do the same for Éowyn.

“The goal is to disarm your opponent,” he says, slipping into the same manner of speaking as his own teacher. “You find your leverage, break their weapon, and leave them relatively defenseless. This move won’t win you a fight, but it will maneuver you into a better position. If you do it right, your opponent may even surrender upon the loss of their blade.”

Éowyn laughs at the mention of surrender. As much as Éomer would like for her to realize that there is nothing dishonorable in living to fight another day, this is a lesson she will have to learn on her own.

“How do you break a blade?” he asks, back into his drill instructor voice.

“I don’t know,” Éowyn says. “I guess just hit it hard enough?”

“Show me.”

She breathes in, out, in, out, lightly bouncing on the balls of her feet. When she’s ready, she lifts her sword and runs at full tilt across the practice arena towards the dummy targets. Her pounding feet raise a cloud of dirt in her path. 

She’s close now. Her strides lengthen to reach the perfect distance to hit her target. Éowyn raises her sword above her head and leaps in front of the dummy, driving her sword down directly upon its head.

The sword isn’t even dented.

The dummy, of course, doesn’t fare so well. Its head comes clean off and rolls around in the dirt for a bit before finally coming to a rest.

Éowyn stares into its painted-on eyes and sees the face of failure.

“Why didn’t it break?” she demands of Éomer. “I hit it as hard as I could!”

“Some things aren’t meant to break,” he says. “The practice dummies are built to fall apart under fairly light pressure. Their purpose is to break so that the weapons hitting them do not.”

“Ugh!” Éowyn groans. “This is hopeless.”

“Hold your sword out,” Éomer says. He waits for her to reluctantly move into an en garde position, then strikes. His own wooden sword darts out, twisting around Éowyn’s and snapping it clean in half. He catches the broken piece in his empty hand and points the fragment up into Éowyn’s torso.

“You broke my sword!” she exclaims.

“And gutted you. Look down.”

Éowyn’s eyes widen. “How?”

“Go get another practice blade and I’ll show you. It’s all about finding the right position. You need to have leverage on their blade in order to twist it to the point of breaking. It’s not enough to be strong or fast.”

“You need to be smart,” Éowyn says, finally starting to get it. “You use your opponent’s weapon against them.”

“Exactly,” Éomer says. His sister may be impatient and reckless, but she’s also perceptive and strong-willed. With time, she’ll become as fierce a warrior as any. He will be honored to fight beside her.


End file.
